When Northern Ireland and Wales outperformed England and Scotland at the World Cup | Football | The Guardian Guardian Sport Network When Northern Ireland and Wales outperformed England and Scotland at the World Cup Three of the four Home Nations will go to Euro 2016 this summer. When all four went of them went to the World Cup in 1958, Wales and Northern Ireland exceeded expectations as England and Scotland were knocked out early on Thursday 24 March 2016 06.37 EDT Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016 06.50 EDT Share on Messenger Close For the first time ever there will be three Home Nations competing at the European Championship this summer. Additionally, it is the first time in a generation that three teams from the UK will be battling it out in a major international tournament, as Wales and Northern Ireland join England in France . The last time this feat was achieved was in the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, when England, Northern Ireland and Scotland repeated the trick of all qualifying for Spain in 1982. For the Welsh and the Northern Irish this will be a significant milestone as they mark their first appearances at the European Championship.

There was so much excitement in Belfast in the immediate aftermath of Michael O’Neill leading his team to the Euros that there was even talk of the manager being knighted . A member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Jim Wells, supported the idea. “Oh, absolutely he should be knighted,” said Wells. “He has performed miracles since his appointment as manager. If we top the group he should be declared a saint.” In such heady times it seems an appropriate moment to reflect on the only time all four Home Nations qualified for the World Cup finals, almost 60 years ago, in 1958. The first few World Cups did not feature any of the home nations as all four Football Associations had withdrawn from Fifa in 1928 in a row over amateurism and so-called “broken time” payments. Most countries allowed compensation for what the players might have earned if they were not playing football while the FA’s stance was as uncompromising as it was arrogant.

Frederick Wall, the FA secretary spelt out their case: “The great majority of the associations affiliated with Fifa are of comparatively recent formation, and as a consequence cannot have the knowledge which only experience can bring.” 1966: what you might not know about the most famous year in English football Read more Such a sniffy attitude had kept the FA out of Fifa when it was established in 1904 and a subsequent withdrawal in 1920 pointed to tensions between the international body and the so-called cradle of the game. The refusal to be involved in the first three World Cups in the 1930s created a few gaps that were filled by countries such as Bolivia, Cuba and even the Dutch East Indies, who took their bows before any of the home nations . After the second world war, the four home associations returned to Fifa and England made their much-awaited debut in 1950, which will be forever remembered for the calamitous loss to USA in Belo Horizonte . England should have been joined in Brazil by Scotland , who had qualified by virtue of being runners-up in the Home International Championship, but they refused to participate.

George Graham, chairman of the SFA, showed that the English did not have a monopoly on pig-headedness by not budging on his position that they would only travel to Brazil if they won the Championship. Despite protestations and pleas from his own players, and even England captain Billy Wright, Graham was not for turning. After both England and Scotland appeared at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland, the big breakthrough came in 1958 when, for the sake of seeding the 16 competing nations, there was even a British pot to join those of Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Americas. The British had taken their time to arrive at the party but they were now out in force, with a quarter of the entrants coming from the UK. Two of the quartet made it through to the quarter-finals but, to the surprise of the football world, it was the minnows of Wales and Northern Ireland who made a much better impression to the embarrassment of their larger neighbours. Pinterest John Charles playing for Wales against Hungary. Photograph: Paul Popper/Popperfoto Neither England nor Scotland got out of their groups and the latter only mustered a single point from their three matches – their last World Cup point until 1974.

Their consolation was that they did score their first ever goal in the finals. England lost a play-off with the Soviet Union, having been sorely affected by the tragic Munich air crash just a few months earlier when three established members of the team – Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards – lost their lives. For some unfathomable reason they only took 20 players of a possible 22, leaving both Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen out of the squad – a decision that looked even more nonsensical when Tom Finney was injured in the first match and could not play in the rest of the tournament. So it was left to the debutants to fly the flag for Britain. Wales had only qualified for the tournament via the back door, having originally been eliminated in the group; they were one of the few teams willing to play Israel in a special play-off that was created after Israel’s group opponents – including Turkey, Sudan and Egypt – refused to play them for political reasons. Having given Israel byes for all of their group matches, Fifa were uncomfortable about letting them go to the finals without having played a single match, so once Belgium became yet another unwilling opponent, Wales were drawn to contest the last qualifying slot.

Having beaten Israel 2-0 both home and away, Jimmy Murphy’s team were led at finals by the indomitable John Charles of Juventus, who was only released by the Italian FA at the very last minute. He did not take long to make his mark, scoring Wales’s first World Cup goal in their opening 1-1 draw with Hungary. After two more draws with Mexico and Sweden, Wales went into a play-off with the Mighty Magyars , a team that had humbled England at Wembley four years earlier. This crucial match was watched by a paltry crowd of 2,823 and, despite being 1-0 down at half-time, Wales prevailed through goals from Ivor Allchurch and Terry Medwin to record a historic victory. Why Northern Ireland's table-topping success deserves greater recognition Read more Reaching the latter stages was a considerable coup and losing narrowly in the quarter-finals to eventual winners Brazil did not dim that sense of achievement, but enhanced it.

The talismanic Charles was out injured and the only goal of a tight match was scored by a precociously talented 17-year-old, the youngest player to have played at a World Cup, who then went on to score a hat-trick in the semi-final and two more goals in the final itself. In doing so he introduced himself on the world stage, which he proceeded to grace and dominate for a further dozen years. Pele had duly arrived. Northern Ireland, the other British debutant in 1958, qualified through rather more straightforward channels by impressively topping a qualifying group that featured Italy and Portugal. However, there was a stumbling block prior to the tournament when the Irish FA initially baulked at the possibility of having to play a match on a Sunday on religious grounds, echoing the Chariots of Fire controversy of 1924. In the end the IFA capitulated and Peter Doherty’s close-knit team faced the daunting task of meeting the holders, West Germany, as well as two very strong football nations, Czechoslovakia and Argentina, in their group.

Pinterest The Northern Ireland football team in 1958: Peter McParland, Billy Bingham, Harry Gregg, William Cunningham, Robert Peacock, Richard Keith, Wilbur Cush, James McIlroy, Danny Blanchflower, Alfred McMichael, William Simpson. Photograph: DPA/Corbis The team was led by the incomparable Danny Blanchflower, who captained Tottenham to the league and cup double in 1961. The other star performer was Harry Gregg, who survived the Munich air disaster along with Blanchflower’s brother, Jackie. The younger Blanchflower never fully recovered from the accident and did not play another competitive game, however Gregg not only recovered but was also voted the best goalkeeper of the tournament in Sweden. One of the other key players was a combative winger, Billy Bingham, who would go on to manage Northern Ireland to their greatest World Cup victory in 1982 when they defeated the hosts, Spain . As Brian Glanville noted, Doherty created a spirit and togetherness that meant they were “more like a club side”.

Having beaten Czechoslovakia 1-0 in their opening game they lost 3-1 to Argentina and had to get a result from their last group match with West Germany to be in with a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals. The 2-2 draw, courtesy of brace from Peter McParland and an outstanding display by Gregg, set up a play-off with Czechoslovakia who had, rather ominously, just hammered Argentina 6-1 in the last group match. Gregg was injured and had to be replaced by Norman Uprichard, who himself suffered an injured ankle early in the match but could not be substituted. The novel, but clearly effective, treatment employed by the trainer Gerry Morgan involved pouring two bottles of whisky over the damaged ankle. More bad fortune was to follow as Uprichard then sustained a broken hand but he managed to continue into extra time. Another McParland double took Northern Ireland through to a quarter-final showdown with France and their star striker, Just Fontaine.

Northern Ireland could not contain the free-scoring Fontaine, who was in the process of setting the record for individual goals in the finals at 13, a record that still stands, and he inevitably scored twice in a comfortable 4-0 win. Never mind England in 1966, here's Scotland conquering Europe in 1967 Read more Blanchflower summed up the overwhelming sense of pride and satisfaction. “In years to come, when we reflect with the judgement and enchantment that distance lends to these things, we may marvel at the almost impossible feats we achieved.” That Wales and Northern Ireland reached the quarter-final stages in their first tournaments was admirable enough but the fact that they fell to the two greatest players of that period in Pelé and Fontaine, was a fitting testament to their achievements. They managed to put both England and Scotland into the shade as the Fifa rankings clearly illustrated, with Wales as No5 and Northern Ireland as No7, while the other two did not make the top 10. Maybe this summer in France will witness a similar ascendancy from the two countries as Chris Coleman and O’Neill seek to recreate the success of their illustrious predecessors, Murphy and Doherty.

World Cup 1958 Pool 1: West Germany, Czechoslovakia, Northern Ireland and Argentina. Pool 2: France, Yugoslavia, Paraguay and Scotland. Pool 3: Sweden, Hungary, Wales and Mexico. Pool 4: Brazil, England, Soviet Union and Austria. As previously mentioned Pool 4 was the most testing of the groups. England, although weakened, still provided tough opposition, even though they no longer had available all of the players who had defeated West Germany, the unconvincing champions of 1954, by three-one on their home ground of West Berlin. Hard though it is to believe, Brazil almost failed to qualify, just scraping through at the expense of Peru, yet they had many great players as well as the incomparable Pelé, including Garrincha, Didi, Nilton Santos, Zito and Vava. Indeed Pelé was not introduced until their third match in the competition.

The Brazil-England game produced no goals, thus England were to return as the only side not to concede a goal when facing the Latin American giants; alas the lack of punch in the weakened forward line meant that there had been little threat to the Brazil goal either, save for a penalty claim that should have been allowed. The introduction of Pelé was sufficient to dispatch the Soviet Union, absolutely essential if Brazil were to go through to the next stage; a measure of the Soviet’s footballing strength can be given by mentioning that they were to move on and capture the inaugural European Championship in 1960. Austria, who had played so memorable a part in the 1954 finals were no slouches either, despite coming bottom of the group. Their solitary draw at the expense of England was to cost England dearly. Pool 2 was perhaps the next most formidable of the groups; Scotland having qualified at the expense of Spain, many of whose players featured in the formidable Real Madrid sides that dominated the European Cup, which was open to the club sides of Europe who had won their domestic leagues.

France, in Juste Fontaine, found a forward who seemed to score almost at will, transforming an unfancied side into deadly opponents, a team that only the genius of Brazil was to defeat. Yugoslavia for a long time had produced powerful sides playing neat attractive football, the class of ’58 was to prove no exception. The hosts Sweden were lucky to be in the weakest group of them all, Hungary being a pale shadow of their 1954 selves. Wales, even with the redoubtable John Charles, who was later to be revered by the fans of Italy’s Juventus, were not expected to be more than respectable opposition, given their difficult, and lucky, qualifying method. Mexico had still to even avoid defeat in the many World Cups they had played in, this time they made a difference, their draw with Wales forcing a play-off match between Magyar and Welshman for the second qualifying spot. Pool 1 was by no means weak, although if there was a weak team in it it would have to be Argentina, cruelly quartered in effectiveness by Italian poaching. Not that this did Italy any good as Northern Ireland still managed to qualify at their expense.

One should not underestimate this Northern Ireland team, for it included Danny Blanchflower, the captain of the great Tottenham Hotspur double winning side of the 1960-61 season. A warning to the other members of Pool 1 was additionally provided by a one-nil away win over England in 1957, in which goalkeeper Harry Gregg had played one of his greatest games. The Northern Irish players played as a team and with great determination. Their spirit was such as to dispose of the highly fancied Czechoslovakia. The Munich air disaster deprived the Irishmen of the services of Jackie Blanchflower, the injured brother of Danny. Yet Manchester United’s goalkeeper Harry Gregg had survived Munich and played (for that matter he had turned out for Manchester United just three weeks after Munich). Northern Ireland were only able to send out seventeen players, a significant five short of the permitted twenty-two. Beaten three-one by Argentina, Northern Ireland bounced back to hold the reigning world champions West Germany to a draw, a match in which Harry Gregg had defended his goal playing with only one leg functioning properly, only a very late West German equaliser prevented an upset. Northern Ireland were therefore forced to play Czechoslovakia in a playoff for the second qualifying spot.

Surely their luck had run out, for not only was Gregg injured, forcing the Irish to put the unfancied Norman Uprichard in goal, but they were missing Tommy Casey too. This, coupled with Czechoslovakia’s six-one crushing of Argentina, made the Czechs firm favourites to go through. An impression that was not diluted when Czechoslovakia when one-nil up as a result of a goal from the unmarked Zikan in the twentieth minute. Northern Ireland refused to give up, their no-surrender mindset enabling the prolific goal scorer McParland to equalise with less than a minute to go before half time. Norman Uprichard, who had already twisted an ankle in the first half, broke a bone in his hand, a terrible handicap for a goalkeeper; trouble comes in twos, so left half Bertie Peacock complemented Uprichard’s injury by straining a muscle. Somehow the Irish prevented Czechoslovakia from scoring a goal. So the game went into extra time. It was then that Billy Bingham Northern Ireland’s outside right demonstrated a masterful understanding of human nature, he persuaded his exhausted team mates to engage in gymnastic exercises.

The Czech players, hardly less exhausted than the Irish, couldn’t believe what they were seeing; the worm of doubt gained a hold on them. The Czech catastrophe was complete when McParland scored in the one hundredth minute from a beautiful Blanchflower cross. The Argentine players, who had come bottom, were greeted with sackfuls of rubbish when they returned home. Sticking to the script of the 1954 World Cup the competition now entered a knockout stage. West Germany won a rather uneventful quarterfinal one-nil against a subdued Yugoslavia. Northern Ireland, following their heroics against Czechoslovakia collapsed four-nil against France. A stubborn Welsh team, playing without the injured John Charles, managed to hang on grimly until the magisterial Pelé finally broke their resistance after seventy-two minutes. The Soviets lost rather tamely to Sweden by a two nil score line. The tournament now began to attract much more interest in Sweden, as the belief started to enthuse the home crowds that their team might actually win. Perhaps the increased liveliness was engendered by the presence of cheerleaders on the pitch in Gothenburg before the match against West Germany had begun.

At first it looked as though home advantage would count for nought when Schäfer scored for West Germany; but then the Swedish crowd started to roar and chivy their side. Liedholm of Sweden illegally handled the ball when passing to Skoglund for the equaliser, an offence missed by the referee which incensed the West German players. An injury followed by a sending off would have finished all but the greatest of teams in an era without substitutes; yet the score remained at one-one until the eight-second minute, after which the Swedes quickly scored again. The match left a sour taste, so it occasioned no surprise when Fifa banned the appearance of any cheerleaders in the final. Brazil were now functioning as a team, which made them irresistible, even though Juste Fontaine of France opened the scoring in the ninth minute. A second half hat trick from the matchless Pelé finally put the game out of reach. The five-two score line was not at all flattering to the South American titans. The 1958 World Cup final was to be between the oldest and slowest team, Sweden, and the most exhilarating, Brazil.

The ever optimistic George Raynor, Sweden’s inspirational manager, enthused his players with the observation that Brazil had yet to go a goal down in a match in the 1958 Finals; the path to victory was simple, just score first. Then the drawbacks to Brazil’s 4-2-4 formation would lead to panic and a Swedish victory. Twenty-four hours of rain before the final only helped to encourage this optimism, as such weather traditionally helped European sides in their battles with South American teams. On the sodden field Gunner Gren passed quickly to Nils Liedholm who threaded his way past one defender and the weak challenges of two others. One-nil to Sweden, perhaps Raynor was right? The crowd, far quieter than in the semi-final, would see. But Brazil summed to more than Pelé, Garrincha on the right wing skipped past his marker to the base line, quickly whipping in a pass that Vava is able to ease in, one each now. And the demolition of the theory that Brazil would fold after going behind. Pelé then piled on the pressure thumping the goal post with a hard shot from distance, it was clear who was on top now.

After more than half an hour’s play, Garrincha links up with Vava in a reprise of the first goal. Thus the Swede’s themselves were one down, would they panic? No, there would be no more goals before half time. Cometh the second half, cometh the man; Djalma Santos passed the ball diagonally to Pelé who has his back to the goal and two defenders behind him, ten minutes of the second half had been played; the Brazilian maestro, only seventeen years of age, controlled the ball with his chest, letting it fall onto his right foot, swivelling to his right he then flicked the ball over the Swedish defenders, charging in to collect it as it dropped, he then smashed the ball past a helpless Svensson in goal for Sweden. A two goal cushion and a time for Brazil to show-off their skills, a battered Sweden were forced to chase the ball to comical effect; Zagalo of Brazil then put paid to any lingering dreams, his powerful drive increased the lead to four-one. Yet Sweden did not collapse, Simonsson’s industry finally resulting in a consolation goal, four-two.

A back heel from Pelé and a quick run into the penalty area left him beautifully place to head home the last of the Brazilian goals. Perhaps for the first time the World Cup had a convincing winner, and the winner’s name was Brazil. Brazil also showed great sportsmanship and vision; after the match was over the Brazilian players saluted their hosts by doing a lap of honour with the Swedish flag. © 2006 World Cup Years Ltd. The all-time World Cup finals league table - BBC News The all-time World Cup finals league table 11 December 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel The World Cup kicks off six months from today, hosted by five-times winners Brazil. As a nation, Brazil's knack of winning the tournament is well renowned and many supporters will have them as firm favourites to win a sixth trophy. But what if the World Cup was a league? This chart imagines what an all-time league ranking might look like. We've allocated three points for a win and a point for a draw for all group and knockout stages since 1930. You can search by team, total points and points per game. You might be surprised by some of the results.

Click on a picture or year Brazil 2010 Brazil Brazil are the only team to have appeared in every World Cup finals tournament. They won their first tournament in 1958, with a young Pele scoring two in the final. Using our scoring system, they also finished top in the slightly odd 1950 tournament which suffered from countries withdrawing. The actual winners were Uruguay. Germany Brazil's main contender for the title of most consistent World Cup performers is Germany. They have finished in the top eight every year since 1950, when the country was still under post-war occupation and not allowed to compete. Germany have won the tournament three times, including in 1974, though on our chart Poland come out on top that year, just edging it on goal difference. UK teams England are the only home nation to win the World Cup and also have the best record, frequently finishing in the top ten. Scotland's slow decline is evident, but all the home teams start to struggle as the game goes truly global and the tournament expands. The only year featuring all four nations was 1958, with both Wales - making their only finals appearance to date - and Northern Ireland finishing in the top eight.

Africa Three-time winner Pele once famously predicted than an African team "would win the World Cup before the year 2000". No African team has yet progressed beyond the quarter-finals, but nearly all have shown an improvement in results in the last decade. Cameroon have the longest unbroken series of finals appearances but haven't quite re-captured the splash they made in 1990, where Roger Milla's goals won over many neutrals. 2010: Hosts South Africa, winners Spain England were humiliated 4-1 by Germany in the last 16 after finishing second behind United States in the group stages, where Fabio Capello's team had drawn 1-1 with the Americans and 0-0 with Algeria, before beating Slovenia 1-0. The biggest shock of the tournament came when Switzerland beat European champions Spain 1-0, but the Swiss failed to win another match - losing to 1-0 to Chile and drawing 0-0 with Honduras.

Italy finished bottom of their group, drawing 1-1 with Paraguay and New Zealand before losing 3-2 to Slovakia, while France also lost group matches to Mexico (2-0) and hosts South Africa (2-1) as they suffered an early exit. The Netherlands beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarters and Uruguay 3-2 in the final four, while Spain won 1-0 against Germany in the semis before winning their first World Cup with a 1-0 extra-time victory over the Dutch. 2006: Hosts Germany, winners Italy England progressed through the group stages unbeaten as they won 1-0 against Paraguay and 2-0 against Trinidad and Tobago before drawing 2-2 with Sweden. A 1-0 victory over Ecuador followed before Sven-Goran Eriksson's side lost on penalties to Portugal in the quarter-finals, England finishing with 10 men following Wayne Rooney's sending-off. It was a competition of few shocks as six former champions reached the quarter-finals, where France beat Brazil 1-0 and hosts Germany eliminated Argentina on penalties.

That left four European teams in the semi-finals as Italy beat Germany 2-0 in extra time, before France knocked out Portugal 1-0. Italy won the final on penalties, but not before legendary France midfielder Zinedine Zidane was sent off in extra-time for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest. 2002: Hosts Japan and South Korea, winners Brazil In the first World Cup to be jointly hosted, England progressed after a nervy 1-0 group-stage victory over Argentina and draws with Sweden (1-1) and Nigeria (0-0). England, managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson, then hammered Denmark 3-0 in the next round before being eliminated 2-1 in the quarter-finals by Brazil, the winning goal a freakish free-kick from Ronaldinho which caught out goalkeeper David Seaman. The Republic of Ireland also qualified, going through the group stages unbeaten as they drew 1-1 with Cameroon and Germany, before beating Saudi Arabia 3-0. Robbie Keane's 90th-minute strike helped them take Spain to penalties in the next round, where they lost 3-2 in the shootout.

From Senegal's 1-0 victory over defending champions France in the opening match, to South Korea's run to the semi-finals via victories over Italy (2-1) and Spain (5-3 on penalties), it was a tournament of shock results. Germany finally ended Korea's run with a 1-0 win, but Rudi Voller's side were beaten 2-0 in the final by Brazil, with golden-boot winner Ronaldo scoring both to take his tournament tally to eight. Turkey were surprise third-place finishers. 1998: Hosts France, winners France Scotland's last qualification to date ended in another group stage exit, with a 2-1 defeat to Brazil and 3-0 loss to Morocco sandwiching a 1-1 draw with Norway. Glenn Hoddle's England were eventually knocked out by Argentina in the last 16 match, which went to a penalty shoot-out with scores locked at 2-2 after extra-time. A teenage Michael Owen scored a fine individual effort before David Beckham was sent off. In the group stages, England beat Tunisia 2-0 and lost 2-1 to Romania, before beating Colombia 2-0.

Spain failed to progress past the group stages after losing 3-2 against Nigeria, while Croatia made a surprise run to the semi-finals after they beat Germany 3-0 in the last eight. Hosts France, who beat Italy on penalties in the quarters, ended Croatia's run with a 2-1 win in the last-four before enjoying a 3-0 victory over Brazil in the final, with Zinedine Zidane scoring twice. 1994: Hosts USA, winners Brazil With England failing to qualify, the Republic of Ireland took centre-stage, shocking Italy 1-0 in their opening game before losing 2-1 to Mexico and drawing 0-0 with Norway. Their tournament ended in the last 16, when they lost 2-0 to Netherlands. Bulgaria, aided by Hristo Stoichkov's six goals, were the tournament's surprise package as they beat Argentina 2-0 in the group stages, Mexico on penalties in the second round and then holders Germany 2-1 in the last eight. Romania also shone, beating Argentina 3-2 in the knockout stages, before losing to Sweden on penalties in the quarters.

Brazil, featuring the Romario-Bebeto strike partnership, beat Russia 2-0 and Cameroon 3-0 in the opening round, before knocking out the hosts USA 1-0, beating the Netherlands 3-2 and Sweden 1-0. Italy also impressed on their way to the final by beating Norway 1-0, Nigeria 2-1, Spain 2-1, and Bulgaria 2-1 in the semi-finals. Brazil lifted the crown after beating Italy on penalties after a goalless final. Roberto Baggio missed the decisive spot-kick. 1990: Hosts Italy, winners West Germany England enjoyed their best World Cup showing since 1966. After a slow start, with successive draws against the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, they beat Egypt 1-0 to progress to the knockout stages where they beat Belgium 1-0 and Cameroon 3-2, both after extra time. In a nerve-shredding semi-final, which saw midfielder Paul Gascoigne shed tears after being given a yellow card which would have barred him from the final, they lost 4-3 on penalties after extra time finished 1-1.

The Republic of Ireland recorded three draws in the group stages, against England, Egypt and the Netherlands, before beating Romania 5-4 on penalties in the next round. They were eliminated the quarter-final phase, losing 1-0 to hosts Italy. Scotland also qualified, but again failed to make it out of their group, losing 1-0 to Costa Rica and Brazil either side of a 2-1 win against Sweden. Cameroon shocked the world by opening the tournament with a 1-0 win against defending champions Argentina, before beating Romania 2-1. Their run, powered by the goals of the evergreen Roger Milla, continued into the knockout stages when they beat Colombia 2-1, before losing to England. Hosts Italy lost 4-3 on penalties to Argentina in the semis, before West Germany beat the South Americans 1-0 in an ill-tempered final. 1986: Hosts Mexico, winners Argentina England's participation was infamously ended by Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Argentina.

After losing their opening game 1-0 to Portugal, Bobby Robson's side had drawn with Morocco, and beaten both Poland and Paraguay 3-0 to reach the last-eight. Scotland failed to win a match, losing 1-0 to Denmark and 2-1 to West Germany before drawing 0-0 with Uruguay. Similarly Northern Ireland drew 1-1 with Algeria, but lost 2-1 to Spain and 3-0 to Brazil. Belgium impressed on their way to the semi-finals, beating the Soviet Union 4-3 in the last 16 and Spain on penalties in the quarters before losing 2-0 to Argentina in the semis. West Germany, who beat France 2-0 in their semi-final, were Argentina's opponents in a thrilling final which the South Americans won 3-2. England's Gary Lineker won the Golden Boot with six goals. 1982: Hosts Spain, winners Italy Northern Ireland were one of the surprise packages as they beat hosts Spain 1-0 in the group stages after drawing 1-1 against Honduras and 0-0 with Yugoslavia.

However, they were knocked out in the second round after a 2-2 draw with Austria and a 4-1 defeat to France. England, managed by Ron Greenwood, won all three first-round matches against France (3-1), Czechoslovakia (2-0) and Kuwait (1-0), but went out in the second group stage following goalless draws with West Germany and Spain. Scotland did not make it past the first round despite opening with a 5-2 win over New Zealand. They lost their next match 4-1 to Brazil, and ended with a 2-2 draw against the Soviet Union. European champions West Germany were humbled 2-1 by Algeria early in the tournament, but recovered to beat France on penalties in the semis, after the match ended 3-3. They lost 3-1 to Italy in the final. 1978: Hosts Argentina, winners Argentina Scotland were once more the only home nation to reach Argentina in 1978, but again went home after the first group stage.

They started with a 3-1 defeat against Peru, drew 1-1 with Iran, and beat the Netherlands 3-2, with Archie Gemmill scoring twice. There were several early surprises, with Austria beating Spain 2-1 and Sweden 1-0 as they topped their group ahead of Brazil. Peru finished ahead of the Netherlands, while Poland topped a group also containing West Germany. West Germany were eliminated in the second group stage after drawing 0-0 with Italy, 2-2 with the Netherlands, and losing 3-2 to Austria. The Netherlands, who also beat Austria 5-1 and Italy 2-1 in the second round, played Argentina in the final but were beaten 3-1 after extra-time as Mario Kempes scored twice before the hosts lifted the trophy. 1974: Hosts West Germany, winners West Germany With England failing to qualify, Scotland led the home nations' challenge, but went out in the first round despite being unbeaten. They won 2-0 against Zaire and drew with Brazil 0-0 and Yugoslavia 1-1.

Hosts West Germany finished runners-up to East Germany in the group stages, losing 1-0 to their neighbours who also beat Australia 2-0 and drew 1-1 with Chile. Poland also impressed in the first round, beating Argentina 3-2 and Italy 2-1. With eight teams split into two groups in the second round, the Netherlands and West Germany came through to reach the final, both teams winning all three games. West Germany came from behind to beat Netherlands 2-1 in the final, with Poland beating Brazil 1-0 to finish third. 1970: Hosts Mexico, winners Brazil Holders England let a 2-0 lead slip and lost 3-2 in extra time to West Germany in the quarter-finals. In the earlier group stages, Alf Ramsey's side beat Romania 1-0 and Czechoslovakia 1-0, between a 1-0 defeat to a Pele-inspired Brazil. The Soviet Union impressed in the group stages as they drew 0-0 with hosts Mexico, beat Belgium 4-1 and El Salvador 2-0. However, they lost 1-0 in extra-time to Uruguay in the last eight.

Italy impressed in the knockout stages, beating Mexico 4-1 and West Germany 4-3, while Brazil won 4-2 against Peru and 3-1 against Uruguay. In a classic final, legendary Brazilians Pele, Jairzinho, Gerson and Carlos Alberto scored in a 4-1 victory over Italy. 1966: Hosts England, winners England Held in England, won by England. Skippered by Bobby Moore, England drew 0-0 with Uruguay before beating Mexico 2-0 and France 2-0 in the group stages. They then beat Argentina 1-0 and Portugal 2-1 to set up a final against West Germany. North Korea provided the shock of the tournament when they beat Italy 1-0. With Pele's genius blunted by brutal tackling, Brazil’s fortunes slumped and they made a group stage exit after defeats to Hungary and Portugal. The Soviet Union won all three group matches against North Korea (3-0), Italy (1-0) and Chile (2-1) before beating Hungary 2-1 in the quarters.

West Germany, who hammered Uruguay 4-0 at the last-eight stage, knocked out the Soviets with a 2-1 win in the final four. England's Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in the final as Alf Ramsey's side beat West Germany 4-2 after extra-time in front of 98,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. 1962: Hosts Chile, winners Brazil England, still managed by Walter Winterbottom, were knocked out in the quarter-finals 3-1 by Brazil. They opened with a 2-1 loss against Hungary but recovered to beat Argentina 3-1 and draw with Bulgaria 0-0 before their Brazil defeat. Czechoslovakia reached the final, beating Spain 1-0 in the group stages and holding Brazil to a goalless draw. Their good form continued into the knockout stages as they defeated Hungary 1-0 and Yugoslavia 3-1. Yugoslavia had ended West Germany's hopes in the quarter-finals (1-0), while Italy failed to make it past the group stage, a 2-0 defeat to hosts Chile proving costly.

Brazil beat Chile 4-2 in the semi-finals to ensure a final against Czechoslovakia, in which they came from behind to win 3-1. 1958: Hosts Sweden, winners Brazil England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all participated at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Only Northern Ireland and Wales reached the quarter-finals, where Northern Ireland lost 4-0 against France, and lost 1-0 to Brazil. Northern Ireland had defeated Czechoslovakia 2-1 in a play-off to qualify from their group, while Wales beat Hungary 2-1 in their decisive first-round match. Walter Winterbottom's England, who had drawn 2-2 against the Soviet Union, 0-0 with Brazil and 2-2 with Austria, lost 1-0 to the Soviets in their play-off. Scotland failed to win a match, drawing 1-1 with Yugoslavia and losing 3-2 to Paraguay and 2-1 to France.

Hosts Sweden beat the Soviet Union 2-0 and West Germany 3-1 in the knockout stages, while Brazil hammered France 5-2 in the semis to reach the final, where the South Americans won 5-2 against the Swedes, with Vava and Pele both scoring twice. 1954: Hosts Switzerland, winners West Germany It was a 4-2 quarter-final defeat to Uruguay for Walter Winterbottom's England in 1954, following a group-stage 4-4 draw with Belgium and 2-0 victory over hosts Switzerland. Hungary, with the legendary Ferenc Puskas in their ranks, were ruthless in the group stages as they beat South Korea 9-0 and West Germany 8-3. They won a fiery encounter against Brazil 4-2 in the quarters before beating Uruguay 4-2 to book their place in the final. Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 in an amazing last-eight clash, but they fell 6-1 to West Germany in the final four.

West Germany, who were only reinstated as full Fifa members four years earlier, won an entertaining final against Hungary 3-2 despite going 2-0 down after just eight minutes. 1950: Hosts Brazil, winners Uruguay With Scotland withdrawing before the draw was made, England were Britain's only representatives at Brazil 1950. However, the side, managed by Walter Winterbottom, only won one game, 2-0 against Chile, as they suffered a first-round exit. Surprise defeats to United States 1-0 and Spain 1-0 ended their participation. The top four teams from each group - Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden and Spain - qualified for the final round Brazil appeared on course for glory as they hammered Sweden 7-1 and Spain 6-1. Uruguay drew 2-2 with Spain and beat Sweden 3-2 to set up a decider for the title. In one of the biggest World Cup shocks of all time, Uruguay came from behind in the second half to win the final match 2-1 and lift the title.

1938: Hosts France, winners Italy None of the home nations played at the 1938 World Cup in France, where the tournament was a knockout from the very first round. The Dutch East Indies were among the competitors, losing 6-0 to Hungary in the first round. Cuba also took part, knocking out Romania before losing 8-0 to Sweden in the next phase. Defending champions Italy were the team to beat, winning against Norway 2-1, France 3-1 and Brazil 2-1 on their way to the final. Hungary, who hammered Sweden 5-1 in the semi-finals, also made the final but were beaten 4-2 by the dominant Italians. 1934: Hosts Italy, winners Italy Italy hosted the second World Cup, which involved none of the home nations as they instead played in their own championship. The Azzurri began with a convincing 7-1 victory over United States. Perhaps the shock of the opening round came when Spain beat Brazil 3-1 while Sweden edged out Argentina 3-2.

Czechoslovakia made it all the way to the final, beating Romania 2-1, Switzerland 3-2 and Germany 3-1. Italy, who needed a replay to beat Spain before they edged out Austria 1-0, also made the final and lifted the trophy following a 2-1 victory over the Czechs in extra time. 1930: Hosts Uruguay, winners Uruguay The very first football World Cup was held in Uruguay, with 13 teams competing, none of them from the British Isles. Argentina appeared the dominant side as they beat France 1-0, Mexico 6-3 and Chile 3-1 before hammering United States 6-1 in the final four. The hosts Uruguay were also in good form as they won against Peru (1-0) and Romania (4-0) before also enjoying a 6-1 success in the semi-finals against Yugoslavia. In front of 93,000 fans in Montevideo, Uruguay lifted the first World Cup courtesy of a 4-2 victory over rivals Argentina. Note: Graphic is not interactive if you are using Internet Explorer 8 (or below).

The History of the World Cup in 20 Charts | FiveThirtyEight The History of the World Cup in 20 Charts Jun 12, 2014 at 3:13 PM The History of the World Cup in 20 Charts Email Brazil, the World Cup host and the clear favorite (in our view ), will start off the tournament Thursday with a match against Croatia. Soon after, 30 other countries will take to the pitch with varying prospects of achieving their World Cup dreams. See the FiveThirtyEight World Cup predictions for more on that. But first: a brief tour of World Cup history. We wanted to answer a few basic questions: How often do favorites win? How often do host nations win? Is the spread of soccer talent throughout the world becoming more top-heavy or more even? More Sports The 20 charts below provide some answers. They rank each team that entered the World Cup based on its Elo ratings before the tournament . These Elo ratings, which were adopted from a system developed for chess , have relatively little meaning in an absolute sense. We could say, for example, that Italy has an Elo rating of 1879 — but it’s not clear what you’d do with that.

The Elo system is set up such that the average team has a rating of 1500. There are more than 200 countries that field national soccer teams, however, so being average (as Cape Verde or Trinidad and Tobago are, according to Elo) won’t normally get a team into the World Cup field, much less win it the trophy. So instead we’ve compared each team’s rating with that of the 32nd-best team in the world, according to Elo (whether or not team No. 32 qualified for the World Cup), at the time the World Cup began. 1 The 32nd-best team has gotten quite a bit better over the years, having gone from an Elo rating of 1540 in 1930, to one of 1707 this year. (The 32nd-best team in the world is currently Costa Rica, according to Elo.) Of course, the field has also expanded — from 13 teams in 1930 to 32 in World Cups played since 1998.

The charts include one other important adjustment: We’ve given a 100-point bonus, in accordance with the Elo system’s recommended value , to the host nation. 2 The 1930 World Cup, the first on our tour, was one where the home-nation adjustment makes a difference. Held in Uruguay, it was composed mostly of teams from the Americas; few European nations were willing to make the journey. Argentina and Uruguay were the two best teams in the field by some margin, with Argentina just slightly ahead in the Elo ratings. But Uruguay’s home-nation status was enough to make it the favorite. The two met in the finals in Montevideo, with Uruguay winning 4-2. More surprising: The United States and Yugoslavia won their groups and advanced to the semifinal, ahead of the higher-rated Brazil and Paraguay. Italy played host to the 1934 World Cup. Several South American teams, including Uruguay, declined to participate, as did the countries of the United Kingdom. Overall, however, the field was deeper and had more parity than four years earlier. Italy, Argentina and Austria would essentially have been co-favorites before the tournament began, with Italy slightly ahead on the basis of the home-country effect.

Indeed, Italy won. Italy was also the favorite in the 1938 World Cup, which was played in France under the cloud of creeping European fascism. Italy was a clear favorite because Argentina, No. 2 in the Elo ratings at the time and disappointed that Europe had hosted two World Cups in a row, refused to participate. Italy won, keeping the streak alive for Elo favorites. But when the World Cup returned in 1950 after a 12-year hiatus because of World War II and its aftermath, there was a surprise in store. Brazil hosted the tournament and, with its home-country boost, would have been the slight favorite per Elo. But it was a deep field — with England participating for the first time, and strong entrants from Italy, Sweden and several other countries (although Argentina again declined to enter). Uruguay, just the ninth-best team in the field, according to Elo, prevailed in a famous upset . We’ll accelerate our pace a bit now that we’ve gotten the hang of this. The 1954 World Cup, held in Switzerland, featured another famous upset in the final, with West Germany defeating heavily favored Hungary in the so-called Miracle of Bern.

The 1958 World Cup featured a deep and competitive field. Hungary or Argentina would probably have been the favorite, but Brazil and England were not far behind them. Brazil won for the first time. This touched off Brazil’s golden era, helmed by its star Pelé. The team entered the 1962 World Cup in Chile as the favorite, and it won — marking the last time a team has won two consecutive World Cups. By 1966, Brazil’s Elo rating had slipped closer to the rest of the world. Among a deep group of contenders, England would have been the Elo favorite because of its host-nation status. And just this once, England won. The 1970 World Cup, held in Mexico, featured one of the deepest fields ever. England was nominally the favorite again, according to Elo, but five other countries were within 100 points of it — including the eventual winner, Brazil. The 1974 World Cup, by contrast, had a relatively clear favorite.

West Germany and Brazil were the best teams in the world by some margin, but West Germany, led by Franz Beckenbauer and having built momentum by winning the 1972 European Championships, played host to the tournament and won. The 1978 World Cup, held in and won by Argentina, is one of the least fondly remembered. Argentina was ruled by a military junta, which had come to power in 1976 after the overthrow of Isabel Perón. That World Cup has also long been associated with accusations of match-fixing . Was Argentina’s home-country advantage, for whatever reason, larger than usual? It’s hard to say; Argentina was a good team on its football merits, and the customary 100-point home-country boost would have put it in a group of front-runners that included West Germany, the Netherlands and Brazil. Spain hosted the World Cup in 1982; West Germany and Brazil would have been the favorites, according to Elo. Instead, it was Italy — just the 12th-best team in the field — that won. The 1986 World Cup initiated an era of relative parity.

It would have been hard to pick a favorite: 14 teams, including the host, Mexico, were stacked within 140 Elo points of one another, and they weren’t that far ahead of some of the also-rans. Argentina won, not uncontroversially, on Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal . The 1990 World Cup also featured a fairly flat distribution of talent, although the host, Italy, would have been the nominal favorite on the basis of the home-country advantage. West Germany won instead after a low-scoring and poorly played World Cup. The World Cup returned to the Americas in 1994, when it was held in the United States. This was perhaps the first time that the host nation had no real chance of winning; the U.S. was rated as just the 18th-best team, despite its home-country boost. Much like the 1986 tournament, there was a large group of good-but-not-great teams atop the field. The Brazilian team, led by Romário and Bebeto, won in Pasadena, California, after Roberto Baggio’s penalty kick sailed over the crossbar .

The 1998 World Cup featured co-favorites, according to Elo: France and Brazil were tied in Elo entering the tournament (after giving France its 100-point home-country bonus). Those two teams met in the final, and France won 3-0. The 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, was one of the oddest tournaments. France was the best team entering the tournament, according to Elo, but it went winless in the group stage. The final featured some customary names — Brazil and Germany, with Brazil winning — but neither the Brazilian or German teams were especially strong by the Elo ratings. Turkey took third place despite being just the 23rd-best team in the field. The 2006 World Cup also featured a great deal of parity, with at least 10 plausible winners, including the host, Germany. It was Italy who prevailed over France on penalties in a final remembered for Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt . The past two World Cups, however, have seen a reversal in the trend of greater equality among footballing nations.

Brazil and Spain entered the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as the front-runners, with Brazil just two points ahead of Spain in Elo entering the tournament. In the final, Spain defeated the Netherlands, ranked third in the world per Elo. That brings us back, finally, to this year’s tournament. Here are the Elo ratings, and then a few closing observations. Brazil is the best team in the world, according to Elo, as it is in our Soccer Power Index. There have been several other times when a home country was close enough to the top in Elo that it would have been the favorite after accounting for its home-country bonus. However, this is the first time the No. 1-ranked Elo team also played host. That gives Brazil a significant edge on the rest of the field. In fact, the 506-point gap between Brazil (accounting for its home-country bonus) and the 32nd-best team in the world (Costa Rica) is the largest ever in the World Cup. The 127-point gap between Brazil and the second-best team, Spain, is the second-largest after Italy in 1938. That’s not to say Spain, Argentina and Germany are poor teams.

Spain’s Elo rating — 379 points ahead of the No. 32 team — would have made it the favorite in any World Cup played from 1986 through 2010. Argentina and Germany are strong enough that they would have been the favorites in a number of recent World Cups as well. Any of them would be a worthy champion, but they’ll have to get by Brazil. Footnotes We only collected Elo ratings data on the teams that qualified for the World Cup. Sometimes, the team ranked No. 32 in the world was not among them. Therefore, we extrapolated the rating for the No. 32 team by looking at others ranked close to that threshold — for example, by taking the average of the Nos. 30 and 34 teams’ Elo ratings if both teams qualified. This adjustment may be too conservative , especially for the earlier years of the competition. Allison McCann is a former visual journalist for FiveThirtyEight. @atmccann Nate Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight. @natesilver538

Question: In which year did all four of the home nations qualify for the football world cup?
Answer: 1958